ABSTRACT
Short sea shipping has been broadly defined to comprise many different shipping segments, but its success in shifting cargos from land infrastructure (road and rail) is dependent mainly on roll-on/roll-off ships. The provision of suitable dedicated port terminals is also generally taken as of paramount importance to achieve such a goal. Therefore, this chapter provides a characterization of the European Ro-Ro ship fleet based on a comprehensive ship database. This database includes the main dimensions, the characteristics of cargo spaces, propulsion and auxiliary machinery power and service speed, for pure Ro-Ro cargo ships, Ro-Pax ships and ferries. The influence of these characteristics, particularly the speed and propulsion power and the provision of extensive passenger spaces, on the economic performance of Ro-Ro operations and the technological developments occurring in the different ship sub-types are discussed. The technical features necessary in dedicated short sea Ro-Ro terminals are also presented and their influence on the success of intermodal operations is discussed, considering also organizational and procedural matters, as these are critical for the competitiveness of short sea shipping.
